Police utility bar

ABSTRACT

A police utility bar arranged to be mounted across the roof of a police car including a generally &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;T&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; shaped hollow housing, twin rotating lights, and a radio antenna mounted on the top surface of the housing, front running lights and a siren mounted in apertures in the front side of the housing, rear running lights mounted in apertures in the rear side of the housing, twin search lights pivotally mounted on the ends of the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;T&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; shaped housing, and two mounting bosses arranged on the bottom surface of the housing to mount and support the utility bar on the roof of the police car in connection with arms extending from the bosses to the roof of the police car and in connection with straps extending from the bosses to the rain gutter of the police car with the lights and siren arranged to be operated and controlled from within the police car.

United States Patent Ellis 1 1 POLICE UTILITY BAR Richard D. Ellis, 6714Dudley Ave.,

[76] Inventor:

North, Minneapolis, Minn. 55428 [22] Filed: Feb. 23, 1972 [21] Appl.No.: 228,666

[52] US. Cl. 340/87, 224/421 R, 340/50 [51] Int. Cl B60q l/52 [58] Fieldof Search... 325/117; 224/42.1 R, 42.1 D, 224/42.1 E, 42.1 F, 42.1 G;340/22, 47, 50, 74, 75, 76, 81 R, 84, 87, 89

References Cited Jan. 29, 1974 Primary Examiner-John W. CaldwellAssistant Examiner-Kenneth N. Leimer Attorney, Agent, or Firm--Wicks &Nemer ABSTRACT A police utility bar arranged to be mounted across theroof of a police car including a generally T shaped hollow housing, twinrotating lights, and a radio antenna mounted on the top surface of thehousing, front running lights and a siren mounted in apertures in thefront side of the housing, rear running lights mounted in apertures inthe rear side of the housing, twin search lights pivotally mounted onthe ends of the T shaped housing, and two mounting bosses arranged onthe bottom surface of the housing to mount and support the utility baron the roof of the police car in connection with arms extending from thebosses to the roof of the police car and in connection with strapsextending from the bosses to the rain gutter of the police car with thelights and siren arranged to be operated and controlled from within thepolice car.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures POLICE UTILITY BAR BACKGROUND The presentinvention relates generally to police vehicles, more specifically tolights and other visual and audio equipment which may be carried by apolice car, and still more particularly to a police utility bar devisedand arranged to carry and support the lights and other equipment deemednecessary for a police car in one compact, readily installed, readilytransferrable unit.

In the past, various of the lights and other equipment carried by policecars have been attached by drilling holes in the cosmetic surface of thecar or by attachment through the use of screws, bolts, or other means,or otherwise defacing the cosmetic surface of the police car. Defacingof the cosmetic surface can substantially affect the resale value of thecar and hence the value to the police department possessing the car.

Further, in the past, many of the individual pieces of equipment wereseparately installed.

Thus, past techniques were both inefficient and costly.

SUMMARY The present invention solves these and other problems inproviding appropriate lights and other equipment for use by police carsby providing, in the preferred embodiment, a novel police utility barincorporating from and rear running lights, twin top rotating lights andantenna, a siren, and twin, side, pivoting spot lights to illuminate theenvironment around and about the police car.

In particular, a preferred embodiment of the present invention includesa hollow, generally T" shaped housing having top, bottom, front, andrear surfaces, and left and right projecting ends as in the horizontallyarranged portions of the T." The horizontally arranged portions of theT" are arranged to support the pivotally mounted twin search lights. Thetop surface is arranged to operatively mount the twin rotating lightsand the antenna. The front side is arranged to operatively mount thetwin red running lights and the siren. The rear side is arranged tooperatively mount the twin amber running lights. Two bosses are arrangedon the bottom surface to allow the support of the utility bar on theroof of the police car through the use of arms extending from thebosses, front and rear, to the roof of the police car and by strapsextending between the bosses and the rain gutter of the police car.

Cables and wires from the lights, siren, and antenna are arranged todescend along the front door post, enter the motor compartment throughthe hood opening, and extend through the fire wall of the police carinto the interior of the car to allow the operation and manipulation ofall equipment and lights from the driver and passenger positions in thefront seat of the police car. It is to be noticed that such anarrangement allows remote control without damage to the cosmetic surfaceof the car.

Further, the rear surface of the police utility bar of the presentinvention allows significant space for the imprinting of the name of theparticular police department possessing the police car thus furtheravoiding any defacement of the cosmetic surface of the car.

Therefore, the police utility bar of the present invention operativelymounts lights and other equipment necessary to the functioning of thepolice car in a manner that it may be quickly installed and quicklyremoved all with little or no damage to the cosmetics oi the car such asholes and other defacements.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a novel policeutility bar.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novelpolice utility bar in a single unit.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novelpolice utility bar in a single unit which may be rapidly installed andrapidly removed without cosmetic damage to the car.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novelpolice utility bar in a single unit including rotating spot lights toilluminate the environment around and about the police car while beingmanipulated and controlled from within the police car.

It is a further object of the present invention to pro- DESCRIPTION OFTHE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the novel policeutility bar of the present invention shown in-place upon a portion ofthe roof of a police car.

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view of the police utility bar of FIG. 1according to the section lines 22 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a sectional view of the police utility bar of FIG. 1according to the section line 33 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows a back view of the police utility bar of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION In the figures, a police utility bar, generally designated8, is shown as including a housing, generally designated 10, mountingrotating lights 12 and 14, front red running lights 16 and 18, rearamber running lights 20 and 22, left search lights 24, right searchlights 26,

' radio antenna 28, and twin sirens 30 and'32. Police utility bar 8 isshown as mounted upon the roof, generally designated 34 of a police car,generally designated 36, by means which will be explained hereinafter.

In particular, housing 10 includes atop 38, a bottom 40, a front side42, and rear side 44, and ends generally designated 46 and 48.

Top 38, in the preferred embodiment shown, operatively mounts twinrotating lights 12 and 14 and allows their control and manipulation. Asbest seen in FIG. 3, the controls for rotating lights 12 and 14 includean electrically controlled drive motor 50 interconnected to the rotatinglights 12 and 14 by drive cables 52 and 54. Electric power for rotatinglights and the drive motor 50 is provided through a control cable 56including a plug 58 to allow separation of the top 38 from the remainingportions of the housing 10. Top 38 further operatively mounts an antenna28 which connects with an antenna cable 60 and a plug 62 to also allow aseparation of top 38 from the remaining portions of housing 10. Top 38is fixed to the remainder of housing by a plurality of screws 64.

Two bosses 66 and 68 are attached to the bottom 40. Bosses 66 and 68include attachments for straps 70 and 72 which extend between the bossesand the left and right rain gutters 74 and 76 of the police car 36 andattach thereto by means of gutter clips 78 and 80. A pair of arms 82 and84 extend through bosses 66 and 68 frontward and rearward of housing 10to terminate in suction cups 86 affixed to each end of arms 82 and 84.

Front side 42 includes apertures 89, 90, 92, and 94 defined therethroughwith front running lights 16 and 18 operatively mounted adjacentapertures 88 and 90 to expose the running lights to the exterior of thehousing 10 and cause the running lights to be visible on the exterior ofthe housing. Sirens 30 and 32 are similarly mounted adjacent apertures92 and 94 in a manner to allow sound from the sirens to be heard.

Similarly, rear side 44 includes apertures 96 and 98 mounting rearrunning lights and 22. Further, rear side 44 includes substantial spacefor the printing of the indicia of identification for the particularpolice department possessing the police car. For example, as best seenin H6. 4, the indicia, generally designated 100, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE" hasbeen applied to the rear surface 44 of the housing 10.

As best seen in FIG. 2, ends 46 and 48 which form the left and righthorizontal extensions of the T sections of housing 10 support andoperatively mount controls 102 and 104 for the pivoting search lights 22and 24. Controls 102 and 104 in turn are connected by control cables 106and 108 to the manipulative controls, not shown, located within theinterior of the police car.

Electrical cables 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, and 115, antenna cable 116including plug 117, rotating light cables 118 including plug 120, andsearch light control cables 106 and 108 leave housing 10 throughapertures 122 and 124 in the bottom 40 to form two control andmanipulation cables 126 and 128 which cables extend down the front doorposts 130 and 132 of police car 36, into the motor area of police car 36through the hood opening, from the motor area into the interiorpassenger carrying compartment through the fire wall, and tomanipulative controls situated for operation by the driver and thepassenger.

OPERATION Generally, the police utility bar of the present inventionincludes a top 38, bottom 40, front side 42, and rear side 44 formedinto a hollow parallelepiped with ends 46 and 48 extending leftward andrightward of the parallelepiped portion to form left and righthorizontal extensions of the T" shaped housing 10. By extending in thismanner, the mounting of the search lights 24 and 26 allows them to pivotupward and downward with respect to the housing 10, and rotate front andrear with respect to the housing 10, to allow the occupants of policecar 36 to aim a directionalized beam of light to selectively illuminatethe environment around and about the police car. With a separation ofthe control cables, 126 and 128, each search light can be separablycontrolled and manipulated as desired. In the preferred embodiment, onecontrol terminates adjacent each of the passengers, normally two, in thefront seat of, the

police car to allow each a separately controllable search light adjacenthis side of the car.

As can now be seen, housing 10 is positioned on the roof 34 of policecar 36 with top 38 and bottom 40 arranged in a generally horizontalposition parallel to the plane of the roof 34 of police car 36 andperpendicular to the intended direction of motion of police car 36 andvertically spaced from each other. Also, front side 42 and rear side 44are arranged in a generally vertical position extending between the top38 and bottom 40 and perpendicular to the plane of the roof 34 of policecar 36 and the intended direction of motion of police car 36. The policeutility bar 8 of the present invention is then supported upon suctioncups 86 affixed to the ends of arms 82 and 84 extending from bosses 66and 68 interconnected with the bottom 40 of housing 10. Straps and 72are tightened between rain gutters 74 and 76 and bosses 66 and 68 tofirmly affix the police utility bar of the present invention to the top34 of police car 36.

When installing the police utility bar 8 of the present invention,appropriate cabling will then be installed as indicated above and theunit is ready to operate. As can further now be appreciated, the policeofficers situated on the front seat of the car can selectively energizeand manipulate the twin top rotating lights 12 and 14,the

front running lights 16 and 18, the rear running lights 7 20 and 22, thesearch lights 24 and 26, the reception from the police radio antenna 28,and the police sirens 30 and 32. By selectively operating the controls.situated at the end of the respective electric and mechanical cablesextending from the police utility bar 8 of thepresent invention into theinterior of the police car, the desired effect can be had.

It can now be seen that there are no holes or other destruction ordefacement of the cosmetics of the police car and the police utility barof the present invention can be rapidly and inexpensively installed andremoved.

Now that the basic teachings of the present invention have beenexplained, many'extensions and variations will be obvious to anyonehaving ordinary skill in the art. Thus, since the invention disclosedherein may be embodied in other specific forms without departing fromthe spirit or general characteristics thereof, the embodiments describedherein are to be considered in all respects illustrative and notrestrictive. The scope of the invention is indicated by the appendedclaims, rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes whichcome within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims areintended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

1. Police utility bar for-mounting on the roof of a police car having aroof, comprising in combination: a hollow housing including a horizontaltop surface, a horizontal bottom surface spaced from and below the topsurface and having at least one aperture formed therein, a verticalfront side connected between the top surface and the bottom surface, avertical rear side connected between the top surface and the bottomsurface and spaced from the front side, and left and right vertical endsconnected between the top surface, bottom surface, front side, and rearside; means for securedly and removably mounting the housing to and in aspaced arrangement vertically above the roof of a police car; at leastone rotating light, at least one front running light, at least one rearrunning light, at least one siren and at least one antenna; the topsurface of the housing including at least two apertures formed thereinand at least one rotating light and at least one antenna mounted in theapertures; the rear side including at least one aperture formed thereinand at least one rear running light mounted therein; the front sidehaving at least two apertures formed therein and at least one frontrunning light and at least one siren mounted in the apertures; leftsearch light means pivotally mounted on the left end of the housing;first control cable means having one end operatively connected to theleft search light means and having the other end extending through anaperture formed in the bottom surface of the housing to allow thecontrol of the left search light means from the interior of the policecar; right search light means pivotally mounted on the right end of thehousing; second control cable means having one end operatively connectedto the right search light means and having the other end extendingthrough an aperture formed in the bottom surface of the housing to allowcontrol of the right search light means from the interior of the policecar; electrical wire means connected to the running lights, rotatinglights, siren, antenna, and search lights, and extending through anaperture formed in the bottom surface to allow the selectional operationof each of the lights and siren from within the police car.

2. The police utility bar of claim 1, wherein indicia designating theparticular police department by whom the police car is possessed arelocated on the rear side to thereby allow rapid and completeidentification of the police car.

3. The police utility bar of claim 2, wherein the left end and the rightend of the housing have extensions in a manner that the housing forms aT configuration wherein the left horizontal extension of the T"supportsthe left pivotally mounted search light means and the righthorizontal extension of the T" supports the right pivotally mountedsearch light means.

4. The police utility bar of claim 3, wherein the top surface, bottomsurface, rear side and front side are substantially flat and form ahollow parallelepiped portion of the housing.

5. The police utility bar of claim 4, wherein the means for mounting thehousing includes a boss formed on the bottom surface of the housing, carrain gutter clamps, adjustable flexible straps extending between the carrain gutter clamps and the boss, arms extending frontward and rearwardfrom the boss and suction cups affixed to the ends of the arms tosupport the arms and hence the utility bar.

6. The police utility bar of claim 1, wherein the left end and the rightend of the housing have extensions in a manner that the housing forms aT configuration wherein the left horizontal extension of the T supportsthe left pivotally mounted search-light means and the right horizontalextension of the T" supports the right pivotally mounted search lightmeans.

1. Police utility bar for mounting on the roof of a police car having aroof, comprising in combination: a hollow housing including a horizontaltop surface, a horizontal bottom surface spaced from and below the topsurface and having at least one aperture formed therein, a verticalfront side connected between the top surface and the bottom surface, avertical rear side connected between the top surface and the bottomsurface and spaced from the front side, and left and right vertical endsconnected between the top surface, bottom surface, front side, and rearside; means for securedly and removably mounting the housing to and in aspaced arrangement vertically above the roof of a police car; at leastone rotating light, at least one front running light, at least one rearrunning light, at least one siren and at least one antenna; the topsurface of the housing including at least two apertures formed thereinand at least one rotating light and at least one antenna mounted in theapertures; the rear side including at least one aperture formed thereinand at least one rear running light mounted therein; the front sidehaving at least two apertures formed therein and at least one frontrunning light and at least one siren mounted in the apertures; leftsearch light means pivotally mounted on the left end of the housing;first control cable means having one end operatively connected to theleft search light means and having the other end extending through anaperture formed in the bottom surface of the housing to allow thecontrol of the left search light means from the interior of the policecar; right search light means pivotally mounted on the right end of thehousing; second control cable means having one end operatively connectedto the right search light means and having the other end extendingthrough an aperture formed in the bottom surface of the housing to allowcontrol of the right search light means from the interior of the policecar; electrical wire means connected to the running lighTs, rotatinglights, siren, antenna, and search lights, and extending through anaperture formed in the bottom surface to allow the selectional operationof each of the lights and siren from within the police car.
 2. Thepolice utility bar of claim 1, wherein indicia designating theparticular police department by whom the police car is possessed arelocated on the rear side to thereby allow rapid and completeidentification of the police car.
 3. The police utility bar of claim 2,wherein the left end and the right end of the housing have extensions ina manner that the housing forms a ''''T'''' configuration wherein theleft horizontal extension of the ''''T'''' supports the left pivotallymounted search light means and the right horizontal extension of the''''T'''' supports the right pivotally mounted search light means. 4.The police utility bar of claim 3, wherein the top surface, bottomsurface, rear side and front side are substantially flat and form ahollow parallelepiped portion of the housing.
 5. The police utility barof claim 4, wherein the means for mounting the housing includes a bossformed on the bottom surface of the housing, car rain gutter clamps,adjustable flexible straps extending between the car rain gutter clampsand the boss, arms extending frontward and rearward from the boss andsuction cups affixed to the ends of the arms to support the arms andhence the utility bar.
 6. The police utility bar of claim 1, wherein theleft end and the right end of the housing have extensions in a mannerthat the housing forms a ''''T'''' configuration wherein the lefthorizontal extension of the ''''T'''' supports the left pivotallymounted search light means and the right horizontal extension of the''''T'''' supports the right pivotally mounted search light means.